My Sister Takes on Experian

You've all seen them - you've probably even sang along to the little jingle. From pirate hats to green wool tights, the commercials for FreeCreditReport.com are popular and catchy. Unfortunately, they are also very misleading, as my sister found out the hard way. Despite their claims of offering a free credit report, my sister's credit card was charged even though she did not (to her knowledge) sign up for anything that cost money. The long and the short of it is that Erica was ticked off and wanted her money back. She contacted the company for a refund, but was unable to obtain one. She hit the web, searching for others who had been taken like she had and she found she was certainly not alone. There were hundreds, if not thousands of complaints from people just like her.

But Erica had something they didn't. Documentation.

Fast forward to February 5th, 2010. (Yup, that's today) My sister checked her email today to find that the lawyers that contacted her forever and a day ago about her experience had indeed filed suit. She was given the link to an article in The Huffington Post so she checked it out and SURPRISE - she is listed as the lead plaintiff!! When I spoke to her on the phone today she chuckled and said, "Yup, my credit card statements are Exhibit I."

So just like that, my sister is famous. She's already had people sending her messages on Facebook asking, "Are you the Erica Possin who's suing FreeCreditReport.com?" I'm so proud of her. Even though she didn't intend to become the spearhead of this lawsuit, I admire her for not backing down and not just accepting that her money was gone. She didn't just roll over and take it.

According to the official class action complaint, "Plaintiff [Erica] brings this class action to stop the fraud and seek compensation for the tens of thousands of consumers deceived by Experian's FCR.com to the tune of millions of fraudulently obtained profits...."

Go Erica. I'm so proud of you.

Read all about it at CNN Money and MSN as well! This is big news, people.